A Rite of Passage Tag
by LacytheRomanWerewolf
Summary: What I think happened after the screen went black. HP


Begin Transmission

Lacy here peoples. Alright, so I've got another episode tag for ya. I know, I keep popping them out. This one is for A Rite of Passage. I just think that since Aaron has some experience with his ears being blown to hell that he could help Emily after Morgan popped hers. Have...hmm, well yeah. Have fun.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

End Transmission

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Aaron watched Emily rub her ear as she sat in the passenger's seat of one of the SUVs. He knew Morgan had done some damage to her eardrum when he fired to MP5 inside the SUV while taking down the unsub.

"Are you okay, Emily?" Aaron asked softly. He didn't want to cause her any pain.

Emily shook her head. "Not really. The ringing is getting louder."

Aaron didn't say anything but he turned at the next left, heading for the closest city. Emily noticed this.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked.

Aaron looked at her briefly. "You probably blew your eardrum. I'm taking you to get looked at to be sure." he pulled out his phone and hit the button for Dave's number. "Dave, I'm taking Prentiss to the nearest hospital. I think Morgan did some real damage to her ear. Yeah, we'll call when we're on our way back. Right."

Emily rested her head against the window. "Thank you for this, Hotch."

Aaron's expression soften. "No thanks needed."

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Emily sat on the hospital bed in a really annoying gown while she waited for the results of her test. The nurse had tried to keep Aaron in the waiting room but Emily was in pain and she didn't want to be alone so she informed the 'nice' nurse that she'd get more cooperation from Emily if Aaron was with her. Aaron had held back a laugh as he placed a hand on Emily's back and said softly;

"Claws away Prentiss."

Emily had smiled back. "Don't know what you're talking about, sir."

Aaron saw Emily rubbing her ear again and pushed off the wall he was leaning on to grab her hand.

"You're just aggravate it more if you keep doing that." Aaron said. "Trust me, I know."

Emily huffed. "I just want to pain to stop."

Aaron squeezed her hand. "I know." He was going to explain that it would as soon as the doctors figured out what was wrong but she was annoyed and in pain, she didn't need him pointing out the obvious.

"Emily Prentiss?"

The two turned as the doctor came back to them. Aaron went to return to the wall but Emily held his hand tight. He looked at her, noticing she looked nervous so he didn't comment as he leaned against the edge of the bed and let Emily hold his hand.

"You did rupture your right eardrum." the doctor said. He handed Emily two scripts. "These will help your ear heal. No flying until then and stay out of loud places."

Wow, did those instructions sound familiar. Aaron almost laughed. Unlike himself, he'd make sure Emily listened to the good doctor. He narrowed his eyes. As soon as the bastard stopped ogling her.

Aaron cleared his throat and the doctor stepped back.

"You can get dressed now and the nurse will bring your discharge papers." he said before walking away.

Emily smirked. "Now who has to put their claws away?"

Aaron rolled his eyes as he turned away, mainly to hide his smile. "Just get dressed." he pulled out his phone again. "I'm gonna go give Dave an update before his blood pressure spikes from not knowing."

Emily's laughter followed Aaron as he made his way outside to place his call.

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

That laughter didn't last though when Emily remembered she couldn't fly home, meaning she had to drive back from Texas.

"Need someone to drive with, Prentiss?" Morgan asked.

Emily narrowed her eyes at him. She wasn't mad at him, exactly. More like annoyed.

"Not you." she said.

Morgan backed off and went back to the others. Aaron stepped up to Emily.

"Come on," he said. "you're not driving alone and Jack's with his aunt for a bit to spend time with his cousins."

Emily smiled. "I keep saying thanks to you."

Aaron returned the smile. "That you do." he grabbed her go bag along with his own. "We're leaving first. Dave said to take a head start."

Emily laughed. "How nice of him."

Neither noticed said older profile watching them as they bantered on their way to their SUV. Dave shook his head. This would do them good.

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Emily rolled over in her bed at the first hotel she and Aaron had stopped at. Her ear was bothering her but she couldn't take any more meds because it wasn't time yet. They'd gotten one hotel room and Emily was trying not to make too much noise.

"Emily?"

Well that was a fail.

She sighed. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

Emily sat up and flipped on the light. "No. I can't take any more meds for two more hours but my ear is starting to throb again."

Aaron slipped out of his bed. "Hold on," he went into the bathroom. Emily heard the water running for a short minute before Aaron returned with a face cloth in his hand. "Move over."

Emily frowned but did as she was told. Aaron sat down beside Emily and had her lay on her left side so her right ear was facing up. Once she situated, Aaron placed the face cloth over Emily's ear and she was surprised to find it on the warm side.

"It'll relax the pain enough for you to sleep." Aaron said softly but loud enough so she could hear him. "I had to do it a few times myself." he shifted a pillow to his lap. "Here, the elevation will help some."

Emily nodded and moved her head to Aaron's lap. Yeah, this wasn't weird at all. Actually, she paused. No, it really wasn't. The two of them were at a weird stage in their relationship. They were moving from friends to more but they weren't sure how to take the final step.

Aaron ran his fingers through Emily's hair as she shifted a bit to get more comfortable.

"Is it helping?" he asked.

Emily nodded as best she could. "Yeah, it is." she looked up at Aaron. "Thank you for taking care of me."

Aaron smiled. "Well, I wasn't about to trust anyone else with you. They don't know you as well as I do."

Emily smiled too. "That is true. So what does that mean?"

"I think it means we can tell Dave to stop pushing us towards each other." Aaron leaned down and pressed a kiss to Emily's temple. "We're already there."

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Begin Transmission

I'll say it right now, SO did not go as planned but it worked out nicely, yet again. Cool! Maybe I should stop planning. Hmm, but then they wouldn't go against the plan and turn out awesome. *taps chin* I shall think on this. Let me know what you think, flame policy stands and thanks for reading!

End Transmission


End file.
